近幾次考試寫作部分都是之前考過的題目，托福考試重複14/15年老題的時候也很多。但是並沒有什麼卵用，該寫跑偏還是要跑偏，之前聽不懂讀不懂的就算做了一遍也常常依舊不懂不懂。
死磕每篇題目肯定是不行的，要是考試趕上出新題呢？根本上解決當然是背單詞和苦練整體的閱讀、聽力技能。但是有寶寶表示，苦練了啊，其他的都做的挺好可一碰見生物/地質/XX就涼了有麼有？！碰上這種問題，首先我們要善用偉大的TPO，找出這個話題主題的那些篇題目，一起做。背那些影響你理解的生詞。其次，就是稍微瞭解點背景知識，給自己個信心。
當然了，也不能迷信背景知識，雖然托福考試在閱讀和聽力部分會涉及一些專業學科，學科，話題涵蓋了社會科學、人文科學以及 Hard Science等，聽起來十分可怕。然而，ETS 命題人表示：這些內容雖然涉及學科廣泛，考生可能並沒有相關學科經驗，但是涉及的內容只是基本的理論和概念——對於理解背景知識相當基礎、相當寬泛的內容。
所以說呢，其實背景知識並不是必要的，只要詞彙擴充到、能力提升上去，透過TPO瞭解點也就夠了。看背景知識的意義在於，給你新增點信心，順帶在備考期，讓我們投入文章順利些，進入狀態快速點。就比如說TPO中有篇文章講到化學元素週期表，對於高中生來說再熟悉不過了，閱讀的時候首先你會感覺，我懂！然後半讀半猜，估計也可以理解的八九不離十了。
從整體的大話題來說，像是閱讀，生物、歷史、地質類是常考的閱讀文章型別。藝術、生物、天文、地理、生態、歷史、考古是聽力常考的型別。細分下來閱讀的生物類關於動物的話題出現的比較多，考察動物行為、動物特徵、物種的變化等。歷史類文章的考察頻度緊隨其後，不僅出現美國曆史的相關材料，還納入了歐洲歷史、中東歷史，甚至還有亞洲歷史。其中考得多的一些話題是：城市化的發展、工業革命、瑪雅文明、古羅馬文明和道路交通的發展。就比如說1月6日和13日的考試都考察了工業革命。地質類的文章多考察地球地質狀況的變遷及帶來的影響。比如板塊構造學說、大陸漂移學、冰川變化等等。
工業革命
在歷史相關的文章和學術講座中，18 世紀發生在英格蘭中部地區的工業革命是非常常見的事件，這場工業革命影響了整個歐洲大陸，並帶動當時許多國家相繼發生工業革命。工業革命的發展特點、歷史甚至與之相關的蒸汽機、能源問題都是在閱讀和聽力中經常出現的話題。
TPO 26 中就曾出現蒸汽機以及蒸汽機改良相關的細節描述：
In the late 1700s James Watt designed an efficient and commercially viable steam engine（蒸汽機） that was soon applied to a variety of industrial uses as it became cheaper to use….A rotary（轉動的，旋轉的） engine attached to the steam engine enabled shafts（轉動軸） to be turned and machines to be driven, resulting in mills using steam power to spin and weave cotton.
同一篇中，談到工業革命中鋼鐵行業的發展，也具體到很多細節：
The availability of steam power and the demands for new machines facilitated the transformation of the iron industry.Charcoal（木炭）, made from wood and thus in limited supply, was replaced with coal-derived coke （焦炭）(substance left after coal is heated) as steam-driven bellows（風箱） came into use for producing of raw iron. Impurities were burnt away with the use of coke, producing a high-quality refined iron（精鐵）. Reduced cost was also instrumental in developing steam-powered rolling mills capable of producing finished iron（高純度的鐵） of various shapes and sizes.
工業革命主要產業及背景總結：
紡織產業：紡織機的演化：飛梭(Flying shuttle) → 杼箱 → 珍妮紡紗機(Spinning Jenny) → 騾機 (Spinning Mule)→ 水力織布機 → 蒸汽動力驅動運輸行業革新：1776 年煤礦中使用鐵軌；1814 年運煤的蒸汽機車問世；1825 年世界上第一條鐵路；1844年，英國鐵路長達 2235 英里；鋼鐵行業革新：1709 年，焦炭取代木炭鍊鐵；1750 年，坩堝鍊鋼工藝，歐洲歷史上鋼首次被熔化冶煉。
文章載入中…
寒武紀Cambrian
寒武紀時期，大約50個門的大量多細胞生物（包括幾乎所有現生生物的祖先）快速出現，稱為“寒武紀生命大爆發”。寒武紀的生物形態奇特，和地球上的現生生物極不相同。
寒武紀生命大爆發起源—埃迪卡拉動物群
埃迪卡拉（Ediacaran）動物群是1947年在澳大利亞中南部Ediacara地區的龐德砂岩層中首先發現的，被認為是20 世紀古生物學最重大的發現之一。
埃迪卡拉動物群包含多種形態奇特的動物化石：身體巨大而扁平、多呈橢圓形或條帶形，具有平滑的有機質膜，是人們迄今為止發現的最古老、最原始的化石，也是在太古代地層中發現的最有說服力的生物證據。
儘管有關埃迪卡拉型動物群的性質還有許多爭議，但其奇怪的形態令許多學者相信，埃迪卡拉型動物群是後生動物出現後的第一次適應輻射，它們代表了後生動物出現以後的第一次輻射演化因此，可以認為埃迪卡拉型動物群是在元古宙末期大氣氧含量較低的條件下後生動物大規模佔領淺海的一次嘗試，結果失敗了，而導致絕滅。在後來的演化過程中，後生動物採取了第二種方式，使內部的器官複雜化和物種多樣化的發展，即生物系統演化。
偷偷給你們透露去年11月26日考過的，2015年9月5日的原題（啄木鳥內部真題）寒武紀大爆發。真題還原：
The Cambrian Explosion
The earliest fossil evidence for eukaryotes complex organisms whose cellscontain a distinct nucleus dates to only about 1.2 billion years ago. Thefossil record suggests that animal evolution progressed slowly, with relativelylittle change seen between fossils from 1.2 billion years ago and those from ahalf-billion years later. But then something quite dramatic happened as can bejudged by the many different animal groups that suddenly appear in the fossilrecord.
Biologists classify animals according to their basic body plans. For example,the basic body plan shared by mammals and reptiles is fundamentally differentfrom that of insects. Animals are grouped by body plan into what biologistscall phyla. Mammals and reptiles both belong to the single phylum Chordata,which includes animals with internal skeletons. Insects, crabs, and spidersbelong to the phylum Arthropoda, which contains animals with body features suchas jointed legs, an external skeleton, and segmented bodies. Classifyinganimals into phyla is an ongoing project for biologists, but modern animals appear to comprise about 30different phyla, each representing a different body plan.
Remarkably, nearly all of these different body plans, plus a few othersthat have gone extinct, make their first known appearance in the geologicalrecord during a period spanning only about 40 million years, less than about 1percent of Earth's history. This remarkable flowering of animal diversityappears to have begun about 545 million years ago, which corresponds to the start of the Cambrianperiod. Hence it is called the Cambrian explosion.
The fact that the Cambrian explosion marks the only major diversificationof body plans in the geological record presents us with two important andrelated questions: Why, so long after the origin of eukaryotes, did the pace ofevolution suddenly accelerate dramatically at the beginning of the Cambrian,and why hasn't there been another period of similarly explosive diversificationsince then ?
We can identify at least four factors that might have contributed to theCambrian explosion. First, the oxygen level in our atmosphere may have remainedwell below its present level until about the time of the Cambrian explosion.Thus, the rapid diversification in animal life may have occurred at least in partbecause oxygen reached a critical level for the survival of larger and moreenergy-intensive life forms.
A second factor that may have been important was the evolution of genetic complexity. As eukaryotes evolved, theydeveloped more and more genetic variation in their DNA. Some scientists believethat the Cambrian explosion marks the point at which organisms developedcertain kinds of genes (homeobox genes) that control body form and that couldbe combined in different ways, allowing the evolution of a great diversity of forms over time.
A third factor may have been climate change. Geological evidence pointsto a series of episodes in which Earth froze over before the Cambrian began.The extreme climate conditions of these episodes eliminated many species,leaving a wide array of ecological niches available into which new speciescould rapidly evolve when climate conditions eased at the beginning of theCambrian.
A fourth factor may have been the absence of efficient predators. Early predatory animals were probably not verysophisticated, so some evolving animals that later might have been eliminatedby predation were given a chance to survive, making the beginning of theCambrian period a window of opportunity for many different adaptations toestablish themselves in the environment.
This last idea may partly explain why no similar explosion of diversityhas taken place since the Cambrian: once predators were efficient andwidespread, it may have been virtually impossible for animals with entirely newbody forms to find an environmental niche in which they could escape predation.■ Or it may be that while more body plans may have been possible at some earlypoint in evolution, it was not possible to evolve into those other body plansfrom the body plans that evolved in the Cambrian. ■ Or perhaps the various bodyforms that arose during the Cambrian explosion represent the full range offorms possible given the basic genetic resources that characterize all Earth'sorganisms. ■ In any case, no fundamentally new body forms have emerged sincethe Cambrian explosion. ■
| 動植物 | |
|
動物：
動物分類：
物種 species
食肉動物carnivore
食草動物herbivore
雜食動物omnivore
捕食者predator
被捕食者prey
兩棲類amphibian
微生物microbe
哺乳動物mammal
爬蟲類reptile
食腐動物scavenger
水棲的aquatic
脊椎動物vertebrate
無脊椎動物invertebrate
|
生活習性：
群居 social animal
遷徙 migrate
偽裝 camouflage
冬眠hibernate
免疫immune
呼吸respiration
達爾文學說Darwinism
進化evolve
退化degenerate
滅絕extinct
生存survive
祖先ancestor
後代offspring
馴養domesticate
飼養raise
放牧graze
昆蟲insect
黑猩猩chimpanzee
蜥蜴lizard
恐龍dinosaur
貝殼類shellfish
蛤clam
海豚dolphin
海綿體sponge
浮游生物plankton
珊瑚（蟲）coral
魚鱗scale
呼吸孔blowhole
腮gill
繁殖reproduce/proliferate/multiply
|
|
植物：
苔蘚 lichen
真菌 fungi
蘑菇 mushroom
生態平衡 ecological balance
|
|
|
歐美歷史發現美洲階段：
哥倫布、印第安土人
獨立戰爭American Revolution
南北戰爭Civil War
殖民地colony
定居點settlement
獨立independence
移民immigrant
奴隸制slavery
拓荒者pioneer
種族的 ethnic
西班牙裔Hispanic
印第安人Indian
保護區reservation
自治autonomy
黑人African American
採摘gathering
不毛之地barren land
沃土fertile land
放牧graze
牲口棚barn
牧場pasture
灌溉irrigate
殺蟲劑pesticide
種植園plantation
考古進化類話題
年代age period/epoch/era
編年的chronological
石器時代Stone Age
青銅器時代（2000B.C.） Bronze Age
鐵器時代（1400B.C.） Iron Age
人類學anthropology
起源origin
祖先ancestor
分佈distribution
種族race
人造物品artifact
古董antique
遺蹟relic
|
農業
人口危機population crisis
氣候的不穩定性instability of climatic conditions
種植業crop cultivation
畜牧業livestock farming
乳品業dairy farming
園藝horticulture
小麥wheat
玉米corn, maize
棉花cotton
穀物grain
高粱sorghum
菸草tobacco
灌溉irrigation
天然肥料animal waste
化肥pesticide
殺蟲劑pesticide, insecticide
輪種crop rotation
間種companion planting
羊goat
獸群/牧群herd
馴化domesticate
家禽家畜domestic animals
草原prairie,pasture. Ranch
放牧graze
過度放牧over grazing
植被 vegetation
加速水土流失accelerated erosion
自給自足self-sufficient
犁plow
|
怎樣？能讀懂文章不？詞彙都認識嘛？？
本文整理自英學國際教育（ielsa-ielts）、朗播網（langlib）、小站託福（xiaozhantuofu2015）、美國教育發展中心、長春博思教育、趴趴託福（papatoeflonline）、維基百科、有道考神託福（youdaotuofu）
